Refrigerator

ABSTRACT

A refrigerator has an outer cabinet surrounding an inner shelf carriage having a plurality of shelves. The shelf carriage is accessible from a rear side thereof. The shelf carriage is connected with a connection device and the connection device is connected with the outer cabinet such that a controlled movement of the shelf carriage in relation to the cabinet is provided. The controlled movement provided by the connection device is such that the shelf carriage is movable between a display position at least substantially inside of the outer cabinet and a refill position at least substantially outside of the outer cabinet. The controlled movement comprises rotation of the shelf carriage for providing access to said rear side thereof.

TECHNICAL FIELD

The invention generally relates to refrigerators, and more specificallyto refrigerators with an outer cabinet and an inner shelf carriageaccessible from the rear side thereof.

BACKGROUND ART

In stores, refrigerators are typically used for storing, cooling, downto temperatures above as well as below the freezing-point, anddisplaying items of merchandise to the customers. Examples ofmerchandise in such a refrigerator are cans and bottles of drink, snuffboxes, cartons with dairies or juices, etc. Since this type ofmerchandise generally has expiry dates, it is desirable to have theoldest items in the front of the shelves, thereby making the oldestitems sell first and lowering the risk that items are sold after theirexpiry dates. When the refrigerator is to be filled with new items, itis therefore desirable to fill the new items from the back of theshelves.

In prior art, such as disclosed in the published patent application GB943,675, access to the rear side of the shelves has e.g. beenfacilitated by making the interior part of the refrigerator extractable.That is, the shelves have been arranged on a carriage supplied withwheels, the shelf carriage being extractable from the outer cabinet.When the shelf carriage is extracted from the outer cabinet the shelvescan be refilled from the rear side, after which the shelf carriage canbe reinserted into the outer cabinet.

A problem with this is that the fully loaded shelf carriages can be veryheavy. The shop assistants find it hard to manouvre the heavy shelfcarriage back into the outer cabinet.

Hence, there is a need for a refrigerator with a shelf carriage that iseasier to handle in the process of loading.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

An object of the invention is to alleviate the problems of prior art.

According to one aspect of the invention, a refrigerator is provided. Anouter cabinet surrounds an inner shelf carriage having a plurality ofshelves. The shelf carriage is accessible from a rear side thereof. Theshelf carriage is connected with a connection device and the connectiondevice is connected with the outer cabinet such that a controlledmovement of the shelf carriage in relation to the cabinet is provided.The controlled movement provided by the connection device is such thatthe shelf carriage is movable between a display position at leastsubstantially inside of the outer cabinet and a refill position at leastsubstantially outside of the outer cabinet. The controlled movementcomprises rotation of the shelf carriage for providing access to saidrear side thereof.

By “display position” is meant the ordinary position wherein the goodsare displayed and sold. By “refill position” is meant a position whereinthe shelf carriage is refilled from said rear side.

The outer cabinet surrounds the shelf carriage such that the shelfcarriage can be refrigerated inside the cabinet. The cabinet may haveone or more doors at the front side, but can also be open or have otherarrangements such as a curtain. Due to the above-mentioned controlledmovement, the shelf carriage can be moved to the refill position wherethe shelves are accessible from the rear side. The movement eitherconsists of or includes the rotation. While in the refill position, theshelves are easily accessible for a shop assistant to fill merchandisefrom the rear side. Since the shelf carriage is connected to the outercabinet via the connection device in such a way that a controlledmovement is obtained, it can thereafter be easily moved back to theoriginal position, despite the heavy weight it carries.

Thus, by forming the connection device such that the shelf carriage isable to perform the controlled movement, the manoeuvring of the shelfcarriage is facilitated. When the carriage is fully loaded, andtypically heavy, the shop assistant can focus on pushing the carriage,not needing to worry about the steering. The arrangement assures thatthe carriage is moved back to the original, wanted position, i.e. thedisplay position.

In an embodiment of the refrigerator according to the invention, theshelf carriage is rotatable around a vertical axis at a periphery of afront side of the shelf carriage.

Since the rotation movement is provided as a rotation of the carriagearound a vertical axis at the periphery of the front side, it ispossible to provide the whole movement between the display position andthe refill position as said rotation.

In another embodiment of the refrigerator, the front side of the shelfcarriage is substantially rectangular with two substantially horizontaledges and two substantially vertical edges. The vertical axis extendsalong the length of one of the vertical edges.

According to this embodiment the front side is of a rectangular shapewith the rotation axis placed at a side of the front. This shape offerslarge exposure of the shelves and the merchandise, and the placement ofthe rotation axis ensures a convenient extraction of the shelf carriage.

In another embodiment of the refrigerator the controlled movementcomprises linearly moving the shelf carriage between the displayposition and an intermediate position at least substantially outside ofthe outer cabinet. The shelf carriage is movable, by means of saidrotation, between said intermediate position and said refill position.

The shelf carriage is connected with the connection device. Theconnection device is connected with the outer cabinet such that itallows movement of the shelf carriage in a controlled way in relation tothe outer cabinet. To move the carriage to a position where the rearside of the shelves is accessible, i.e. the refill position, it can beextracted to a position either substantially or fully outside of thecabinet, i.e. the intermediate position, and then be rotated in relationto the cabinet to offer easy access to the rear side. Since theconnection device is connected to the cabinet and therefore controls themovement, the reinsertion of the carriage is facilitated.

In another embodiment of the refrigerator, based on the just describedembodiment, the connection device comprises a support structure carryingsaid shelf carriage. The support structure comprises wheels resting on abase.

The wheels of the support structure rest on a base such as the floor orthe bottom of the cabinet. The shelf carriage and the support structurecan be extracted from the cabinet and the shelf carriage can thereafterbe rotated to a position with access to the rear side.

In another embodiment of the refrigerator, the support structurecomprises a centre axle. The shelf carriage is rotatably connected withthe centre axle.

With the shelf carriage being rotatable around the centre axle of thesupport structure, the carriage can be positioned to offer easy accessto the rear side while still being centred over the support structure.When the support structure is extracted from the outer cabinet, thewalls of the outer cabinet do not restrain the rotation.

In another embodiment of the refrigerator, the shelf carriage comprisesa plurality of wheels arranged at a bottom portion thereof. The wheelsrest on the support structure.

By supplying the shelf carriage with wheels, the movement of the shelfcarriage in relation to the support structure is facilitated. Thus, itshould be noted that within the scope of this invention the termcarriage does not necessarily demand the presence of wheels, although inmany embodiments the presence of wheels on the shelf carriage ispreferred.

In another embodiment of the refrigerator, the connection devicecomprises a vertical axle. The shelf carriage is rotatably connectedwith the vertical axle at a periphery of a rear side of the shelfcarriage.

When the shelf carriage is linearly moved to a position at the front of,and at least mainly outside of, the outer cabinet, the rear side of theshelf carriage will be at least mainly outside of the outer cabinet.Thereafter the carriage can be rotated around the vertical axle, thusallowing easy access to the rear side.

In another embodiment the shelf carriage comprises a plurality of wheelsarranged at a bottom portion thereof and resting on a base, such as thefloor or the bottom of the cabinet.

The wheels of the shelf carriage simplify the movement of the shelfcarriage between a position at least mainly inside of the outer cabinetand a position at least mainly outside of the outer cabinet. Dependingon the arrangement thereof, the wheels may also facilitate the rotationof the carriage around the connection device.

In another embodiment of the refrigerator, the connection devicecomprises a connection member which is slidably connected with thecabinet.

As the connection device is slidably connected to the cabinet, it can belinearly moved in relation to the cabinet while controlling the movementof the shelf carriage.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

In the following, the embodiments of the invention will be described indetail with reference to the enclosed drawings, in which:

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of one embodiment of the refrigeratoraccording to the present invention;

FIG. 2 is a view from below of the embodiment of FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a-view from above showing the embodiment of FIG. 1 in a refillposition;

FIG. 4 is a perspective view of another embodiment of the refrigeratoraccording to the invention;

FIG. 5 is a view from below of the embodiment of FIG. 4;

FIG. 6 is a detail view of the lower part of the embodiment of FIG. 4;

FIG. 7 is a perspective view of another embodiment of the refrigeratoraccording to the invention;

FIG. 8 is a perspective view of another embodiment of the refrigeratoraccording to the invention; and

FIG. 9 is a perspective view of another embodiment of the refrigeratoraccording to the invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF EMBODIMENTS

A first embodiment of the refrigerator is disclosed in FIGS. 1, 2 and 3.

The refrigerator 101 comprises an outer cabinet 102 with a rear side103, a front side 104, a right side 105, a left side 106, a top 107 anda bottom 108. The cabinet 102 surrounds a carriage 109 comprising aframe 110, shelves 111 and a bottom plate 112 provided with wheels 113resting on the bottom 108 of the cabinet 102 or the floor. The carriage109 is connected to a connection device 201 which is connected to thecabinet 102. The front side 104 comprises two doors 114.

The refrigerator 101 exposes refrigerated merchandise (not shown) tocustomers. The cabinet 102 is refrigerated in a customary way. Themerchandise is made accessible to the customers by having the front side104 of the cabinet 102 open, or by providing the front side 104 withdoors 114, as in this embodiment, or in other ways.

Inside the outer cabinet 102 there is the carriage 109 with shelves 111for the merchandise. The shelves 111 are typically sloping forward whichmakes the merchandise move forward when an item is removed from thefront of the shelves 111. When the carriage 109 is inside the cabinet102 it is in a display position, i.e. a position where the goods aredisplayed to, and accessible for, the customers.

The frame 110 of the shelf carriage 109 supports the shelves 111, andthe bottom plate 112 supports the frame 110. At the left side of thefront 104, the shelf carriage 109 is connected with the connectiondevice 201. The connection device 201 comprises an axle 301 which isrotatably connected to the cabinet 102. The carriage 109 can be rotatedclockwise around this axle 301 to a refill position where the carriage109 is outside of the cabinet 102, as shown in FIG. 3. While in thisposition, the shelves 111 can be refilled from a rear side.

To move the carriage 109 back to the display position it is rotatedcounterclockwise around the axle 301. The axle 301 controls the movementso that the carriage 109 is steered back to the original position, i.e.the display position.

FIG. 3 shows the same refrigerator 101 from the top. The carriage 109can be rotated around the axle 301. From this perspective the cabinet102 is rectangular. To maximise the size of the carriage 109 whileallowing for the rotational movement, one corner 302 of the carriage 109is rounded. The front side 303 of the carriage 109 can be of a lengthclose to the inner length of the cabinet 102. The back side 304 of thecarriage 109 is shorter to allow for the rotation. The rounded shape ofthe corner 302 keeps the loss of space on the shelves 111 to a minimum.

A second embodiment of the refrigerator is disclosed in FIGS. 4, 5 and6.

At the rear right corner 401 of the carriage 402 it is connected to theconnection device 501, which is connected to the cabinet 403. Theconnection device 501 comprises an axle 502 which can be linearly movedfrom the position in the rear right corner 503 of the cabinet 403 to aposition in the front right corner 504 of the cabinet 403. For instance,this movement can be realised by making the axle 502 movable in a rail505 on the lower part of the cabinet 403.

The carriage 402 can be moved from the display position to anintermediate position outside of the cabinet 403, as shown in FIG. 4.During this movement the axle 502 is moved from the back to the front ofthe cabinet 403. From the intermediate position the carriage 402 can berotated counterclockwise around the axle 502 to a refill position wherethe rear side 506 is accessible for refilling. It can then be rotatedclockwise back to the intermediate position, after which it can bepushed back into the cabinet 403 to the display position.

A third embodiment of the refrigerator is disclosed in FIG. 7.

In this embodiment, the carriage 701 rests on the connection device 702.The connection device 702 according to this embodiment comprises asupport plate 703 which is provided with and carried by wheels 704, andan axle 708 connected to the center of the support plate 703. At thecenter of the bottom 705 of the carriage 701 it is connected to the axle708. The carriage is provided with wheels 707 which rest on the supportplate 703. The carriage 701 can be moved from the display position to anintermediate position outside of the cabinet 706. During this movementthe carriage 701 and the support plate 703 are linearly moved forward,out of the cabinet 706. While the support plate 703 remains in thisposition the carriage 701 can be rotated around the axle 708 to a refillposition where the rear side is accessible, while remaining centred overthe support plate 703. The wheels 707 supporting the carriage 701facilitate the rotation in relation to the support plate 703. Afterrefilling, the carriage 701 is rotated back to the intermediate positionand the support plate 703 and the carriage 701 are linearly moved backinto the cabinet 706.

As can be seen from this embodiment, the carriage 701 and the supportplate 703 remain partly inside of the outer cabinet 706. The carriage701 can be made rotatable while remaining partly inside of the cabinet706 by slightly reducing the size of the carriage 701, or by roundingthe corners of the carriage 701. The carriage 701 and the connectiondevice 702 according to this embodiment can advantageously be used inexisting refrigerators.

A fourth embodiment of the refrigerator is disclosed in FIG. 8.

In this embodiment the carriage is provided with a door 801.

A fifth embodiment of the refrigerator is disclosed in FIG. 9.

This figure shows a refrigerator with an open front 901, i.e. themerchandise is accessible to the customers through an opening 902 in thefront. This makes the merchandise very accessible to the customers.

The above mentioned embodiments are examples. Other embodiments areconceivable within the scope of the invention. For example, theembodiment disclosed in FIG. 1 can be modified such that, in the refillposition, a part of the carriage remains inside of the cabinet. This canbe achieved by connecting the connection device with the cabinet at aposition distanced from the front of the cabinet.

Within the scope of the invention, the connection device disclosed inFIG. 7 can be altered. The axle can be replaced by for instance a balljoint or any other suitable rotational device.

The axle mentioned in several of the embodiments can be arranged invarious ways. For example, it can be arranged to be rotational inrelation to the cabinet and fixed in relation to the carriage. Anotherone of the possible arrangements is to have the axle fixed in relationto the cabinet and rotational in relation to the carriage.

1. A refrigerator, comprising: an outer cabinet; an inner shelf carriagehaving a plurality of shelves, the shelf carriage being accessible froma rear side thereof, the shelf carriage being connected with aconnection device, the connection device being connected with the outercabinet and providing a controlled movement of the shelf carriage inrelation to the cabinet, whereby the shelf carriage is movable between adisplay position at least substantially inside of the outer cabinet anda refill position at least substantially outside of the outer cabinet;said controlled movement comprising rotation of the shelf carriage forproviding access to said rear side thereof.
 2. The refrigeratoraccording to claim 1, wherein said shelf carriage is rotatable around avertical axis at a periphery of a front side of the shelf carriage. 3.The refrigerator according to claim 2, wherein said front side issubstantially rectangular with two substantially horizontal edges andtwo substantially vertical edges, and wherein said vertical axis extendsalong the length of one of said vertical edges.
 4. The refrigeratoraccording to claim 1, wherein said controlled movement comprises alinear movement, whereby the shelf carriage is movable between saiddisplay position and an intermediate position at least substantiallyoutside of the outer cabinet, and wherein the shelf carriage is movable,by means of said rotation, between said intermediate position and saidrefill position.
 5. The refrigerator according to claim 4, wherein saidconnection device comprises a support structure carrying said shelfcarriage and comprising wheels resting on a base.
 6. The refrigeratoraccording to claim 5, wherein said support structure comprises a centreaxle, and wherein said shelf carriage is rotatably connected with saidcentre axle.
 7. The refrigerator according to claim, wherein said shelfcarriage comprises a plurality of wheels arranged at a bottom portionthereof and resting on said support structure.
 8. The refrigeratoraccording to claim 4, wherein said connection device comprises avertical axle, and wherein said shelf carriage is rotatably connectedwith said vertical axle at a periphery of a rear side of the shelfcarriage.
 9. The refrigerator according to claim, wherein said shelfcarriage comprises a plurality of wheels arranged at a bottom portionthereof and resting on a base.
 10. The refrigerator according to claim,wherein said connection device comprises a connection member which isslidably connected with the cabinet.
 11. The refrigerator according toclaim 1, wherein a bottom of said shelf carriage comprises fourbasically right corners.
 12. The refrigerator according to claim 1,wherein a bottom of said shelf carriage comprises three basically rightcorners and a fourth rounded corner.
 13. The refrigerator according toclaim 6, wherein said shelf carriage comprises a plurality of wheelsarranged at a bottom portion thereof and resting on said supportstructure.
 14. The refrigerator according to claim 8, wherein said shelfcarriage comprises a plurality of wheels arranged at a bottom portionthereof and resting on a base.
 15. The refrigerator according to claim4, wherein said connection device comprises a connection member which isslidably connected with the cabinet.